Dark Heart of the Storm
by Unnamed.in.whispers
Summary: The Doctor takes Donna for another adventure that throws the pair into some unfinished business and changes the way they see each other entirely…
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Dark Heart of the Storm **Pairing:** 10/Donna

**Series:** Dr Who

**Rating: **18R **Type: **Angst/Violence

**Summary:** The Doctor takes Donna for another adventure that throws the pair into some unfinished business and changes the way they see each other entirely…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the Dr Who characters or anything from the universe of Dr Who. I am just taking the characters and playing with them a while – promising to restore them whole and unblemished! Thanks to The BBC for creating these toys for me to enjoy. Please don't take any of my playing as having any bearing on the actual franchise. Enjoy.

()()()

Donna watched the Doctor sleep with a detached, numb feeling.

Absently, she traced the inside of her swollen lip with her tongue, tasting the iron hint of blood; bile rose in her throat.

There was only one thing to do.

She closed the door on his room and turned the key in the lock as the TARDIS hummed, sorrowfully and flushed the hall with a mild scent of sandalwood and vanilla.

Donna figured the living ship was trying to comfort her; too little, too late.

Her feet led her to her bedroom… and she entered the space, finding it warm and bright.

A second key turned that night, locking her into her own bedroom…. locking her away from danger… locking her away from The Doctor.

Leaning her head against the cool grain of the wooden door, Donna finally felt the tremors that had threatened to shake her all night. It stared at the tips of her torn fingers and ran through her entire bruised body, raking sobs from her lungs and shuddering tears from her eyes as they reached their peak and slowly faded.

Donna composed herself, spreading a hand against the door as the TARDIS's familiar throb buzzed, playing a remorseful tune. She sniffed back another bout of tears and admitted, "Yeah… that was a tough visit."

Feeling every inch of her muscles protest, Donna moved slowly toward the en-suite. She found the shower already running warm, steam rising up the mirrors of the room.

She smiled, "You have nothing to be sorry for," Donna told the ship.

The running water infused with the scent of lavender.

The TARDIS knew she was lying.

The ship had taken them to that damned planet after all.

Donna removed her tattered clothes, dropping them to the floor one shredded garment at a time. She stopped short as she caught a glance of her grazed and purple-mottled skin.

Tears welled again in her eyes as she shifted her sweat matted her to trace the bite marks marring her neck and trailing further down.

Donna grit her teeth and turned away from the mirror and into the cleansing water.

But closing her eyes was possibly the worst thing she could have done. Because, waiting for her in the darkness were the eyes of the person that had done this to her.

They were the eyes of the Doctor and the darkness of the Oncoming Storm

()()()()()

It had started out much like any other adventure; The Doctor excitedly rushing her to the doors of the TARDIS before she'd even had chance to drag on her coat.

"Welcome to the biggest bizarre of the year five billion… ish…" the alien beamed a broad smile and swooped his hand across the vista.

Donna blinked, "Five billion…ish?" She asked, taking in the hundreds of brightly coloured tents lining the cramped square, the crowds of people swirling about the space, in all shapes and sizes, milling around and bargaining for prices. The place was practically buzzing, filled with the drifting scents of enticing foods and exotic drinks…

"You've brought me shopping?" She squeaked with excitement, gripping the door of the TARDIS to contain herself.

"Oh yes!" The Doctor confirmed before she enveloped him in an ecstatic embrace.

Donna felt the Doctors smile against her neck and she breathed in contentment, allowing herself a moment to enjoy the feeling of being in his arms before a familiar denial settled over her thoughts and she pushed him away.

The Doctor was still smiling though, his big, brown eyes glittering with pride in his choice of destination and how happy it had made his companion.

"You smell nice," Donna admitted, awkwardly, unable to think of anything else to say at that moment.

"Sandalwood and vanilla," he replied, smiling and taking her hand. "I thought you'd like it."

"I do…" she said before stopping herself.

Donna was about to ask why her approval meant so much to him, but was quickly tugged out of the TARDIS, into the cramped street and caught up in the charged atmosphere of market traders, bargain hunters and the unusual cocktail of aliens she found on these wonderful, new planets the Doctor would take her to.

It was fantastic, if a little frantic, watching the Doctor rushing about and bringing her trinkets or food stuffs or drinks to sample from a thousand different worlds.

She knew what was behind it all; this was the first time they had summoned up the courage to leave the TARDIS since Midnight. Donna shivered involuntarily at the memory of her friend's haunted expression after he had returned from the deadly road-trip across the diamond surface of the cold and lonely planet.

Donna had seen a lot of things before and since she had met the Doctor, but nothing had scared her more than his fear that day. He had been terrified.

Donna resolved to never let him out of her sight again.

But that was easier said than done in this crowded market place… still, he wasn't too far away…

She began to relax the longer they stayed, even browsing at a number of stalls until a glint caught her eye and she was drawn to a jewellery stand overlooked by two tall, bird-like aliens who wore their feathers beaded, braided and bright as any tropical avian she had ever seen.

Donna greeted them as her hands reached out to the necklace that had caught her attention, gripping it by the chain and holding it up the light. It could have been a diamond for the cut and how much it sparkled, but it wasn't until she held the gem in her hand that it beamed with the brightest emerald green she had ever seen.

"But…" Donna looked to the vendor in confusion, "what happened?"

The alien leaned forward and took the gem, which instantly changed shade to a cerulean blue, and held it back to the light to admire it.

"They are empathic crystals," the market trader explained, "they can sense your emotions and paint themselves to suit how you feel."

"Kinda like a mood stone?" She asked as the alien leaned forward to place it about her neck, the gem instantly changing back to emerald as she was tuned to the viewing mirror.

"Yes," the vendor laughed, "you could call them that."

"Green though?" She screwed up her face, "With this hair?"

"I quite like it," the Doctor said, coming up behind her, brushing a few strands of red hair aside to better admire her reflection in the mirror.

Donna raised a doubtful brow, but the Doctor was smiling his oblivious smile and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. "Lovely," he concluded before moving off into the crowd again.

The gem flamed crimson as Donna blushed and the vendor gave a quiet chirp of amusement.

"Perhaps this is not the jewel for you," he suggested, leaning over to cover the item with his wing. "I had not realised you were human…"

Donna clearly looked confused, because the vendor smiled kindly and said in a low tone, "Being an emotional race… you may wish to reconsider this stone." Then he leaned in more conspiratorially and looked in the direction of the Doctor, "Unless you want your companion to know your most… intimate feelings."

She didn't know what colour the stone had turned now, but she felt the red heat of panic prickle her skin as she quickly moved a safe distance away from the necklace, thanked the tradesman, bought a slim, crystal bracelet in appreciation and rushed toward the Doctor.

He greeted her with open arms and smiled, "What happened to the necklace?" He asked, absently tracing his fingers around her neckline.

Donna blinked before shrugging off the tickle-light touch and smiled, "What would I have done with a trinket like that?"

"It's pretty," he said, looking saddened, "You could have bought it just for you."

"Nah!" Donna shrugged his hand away, "I've got plenty of jewellery."

The Doctor was nodding absently, "Alright." He sighed, then passed a hand over his face and became renewed. "Shall we go and grab a bite to eat?"

Donna smiled, "It's a date, spaceman!"

Beaming another, broad smile, he folded Donnas arm in his own and led them to a quiet alley, away from the crowds and noise and cosy enough to share stories and tall tales together before Donna looked around.

"How come you chose this place then?"

The Doctor shrugged, shovelling a large portion of pasta into his mouth. "I thought that, after Midnight… I wanted to be somewhere we could enjoy together."

He didn't want her to leave him alone again. A lump appeared in her throat. Donna smiled, "That's nice, you prawn… but I meant this restaurant."

The Doctors eyes widened, "Oh… right…"

"Bit out of the way, isn't it?"

The Doctor said nothing.

"A little… cozy?"

The Doctor went slightly pale, "It isn't like that Donna, honest… it's…"

Donna snorted a laugh, "You muppet," she said and slapped his arm, "I'm going to the toilet."

()()()()()

_Granddad always said you could judge a restaurant by the toilets…_ and from what Donna saw she could agree.

Everything had a polished, marble finish and was clean and crisp. _Expensive_, she thought as she approached the mirror and side stepped the other occupant in the room.

Donna smiled at the young girl, unable to shake the feeling that there was something wrong. It wasn't until after she had washed her hands and stood back to better look at herself in the mirror that she saw the girls pale skin and wide eyes.

The alien caught her looking and Donna smiled, tuning to leave.

"It's bliss…" the girl hissed in a whisper.

"I'll bet," Donna nodded, moving around her and wanting to leave.

For someone clearly high, the woman moved quickly, craning her neck so Donna could better see the plaster attached to the soft skin; the patch held a symbol and bore the stamp 'BLISS'.

"A designer drug," Donna nodded her understanding, sarcastically sticking her thumbs up and stating, "Good one."

The girl misunderstood and grinned, "Paid a fortune for it…" She hummed, swaying slightly, "worth every credit… when I graduate…"

Donna shook her head and was half-way through thinking how some things never change when she was suddenly aware of the slender fingers at her throat as the girl slapped a 'Bliss' stamp on her.

Her last coherent thought was to rip the plaster away, but a rush of sensation swamped her as the stamp glued itself to her skin… and Donna swayed…

The colours in the room grew deeper, richer, as the light took on a warm and welcoming glow and she was embraced by a feeling of utter contentment.

There had been something she was angry about… but she couldn't quite remember what it was… besides, she figured it would take a lot of energy to be angry and who had time for that?

Life seemed to slow and let her enjoy the experience as second stretched out into endless rainbows and explosions of pleasure before her and she flexed her hands out to steady herself, amazed at how smooth and pale her skin seemed under this new light…

"Donna," a familiar voice asked from far away as she closed her eyes and felt the dark silence envelop her…

_That voice_, she thought in the maelstrom of ideas cascading through her head, _I know that voice…_

"Donna?"

She became aware of another person beside her and turned to look. The confusion was back for a moment before a wonderful dawning bloomed and she smiled, "Oh… it's you?"

And of course it was him. Who else would it be?

The Doctor looked at her with glittering, chocolate brown eyes, "Donna? What's happened? Are you alright?"

_Am I alright?_ She thought, laughing slightly, "I'm brilliant…" then she was caught off guard by the hair on his slim face… "Everything's brilliant…" his skin was nothing like hers… and she wondered if it was as smooth…

A strange expression overcame the Doctor when Donna touched his face… she thought that, at first he was startled, before he closed his eyes and covered her hands with his, interlacing their fingers…

Donnas eyes were drawn to the joining as she heard him sigh, "Don't be sad…" she told him, wondering how anyone could be, right now and wishing she could make him feel as wonderful as she felt. "I missed you…"

But the Doctor moved away from her and gripped the other woman, demanding, "What did you do?"

Donna winced at the slicing tone and moved to stop her friend, but only managing to drape herself over him as he spotted the girls 'Bliss' tab and ripped it off her skin.

"Where did you get this?" He asked, "And what have you done to my friend?"

The girl swooned, clapping her hand to her head with an echoing smack. "Oh…" she moaned, doubling over, "I don't feel well."

"I'm not surprised," the Doctor said, harshly as Donna tried to soothe him; she decided the best way to calm him was to give him a back rub, but he wriggled away from her touch while still addressing the other woman.

"How long will the effects last?" He asked, trying to control the shiver in his voice. "Is this strain fit for humans?"

Donna laughed to herself. "I forget you aren't human," she smiled, her hands finding their way beneath his jacket, "you feel human enough…"

The other girl was looking decidedly pale as the Doctor clasped Donnas hands together to prevent further wandering… he called the waiter who immediately hollered for three, heavy-set, door men and insisted they carry the guests out of the building immediately.

The Doctor protested at their handling of Donna, though she wasn't sure why, and he swooped her into his arms, making her head spin. The feeling didn't settle until she was deposited in a back-alley where the Doctor informed her to stay while he went to the sickly looking alien who had hunched herself against the nearest wall.

Donna winced again as The Doctor span the woman around and gave her a sharp shake to draw her attention.

But Donna was starting to feel less awed by the colours about her and more dizzy by the second. She stood, trying to draw air deeper into her lungs, but the action only caused her stomach to vault as her head throbbed with pain.

"Doctor…" she called, weakly…

He was there in an instant, catching her before she fell and guiding her to the floor to rest on him while the alley exploded in light and sound… Donna heard the shouting of, what she thought was, police and tried to stand… but couldn't.

The last thing she remembered was being lifted from the Doctors arms and secured in handcuffs.


	2. Chapter 2

Blinking awake, Donna winced at the white light as she grimaced in pain… her head was pounding. The sound of her pulse filled her ears and she was overcome by an almost uncontrollable urge to throw-up… _God…_

She managed to drag her head from a pillow enough to realise she was in a bed… a hospital bed. In fact, she was still connected to a number of brightly coloured drip lines working their way into her veins.

The Doctor was there, head pillowed on his arms; leaning on the side of the bed in slumber… he must have been there all night.

She reached out and ruffled his hair enough to rouse him and croaked, "What hit me and which way did it go?"

The Doctor blinked a moment before realisation hit and he bolted upright, immediately fussing about her, helping her sit up and making sure she was comfortable.

"What happened?" She managed to ask around the beaker forced at her mouth.

"You were spiked. Drugged…"

Donna began to remember… the girl in the toilets…

"I shouldn't have left you alone," the Doctor continued, angling the cup to feed her more water, "It was my fault."

Donna pushed the drink away, dismissing, "Everyone needs to pee, Spaceman. I don't know about Mars, but humans prefer to do that on their own." Donna shuffled in the bed and caught his hurt expression and shrugged, "Well… not all humans… but I'd have to be way higher than I was to do that sort of thing with you."

The Doctor smiled, but the expression didn't reach his eyes, so she reached out to him, "You going to tell me what it was?"

He sighed and leaned back on his chair, "It was bliss…"

"Doesn't feel like that now, sunshine."

The Doctor gave her a quick smile and continued, "I've encountered this before; on New Earth."

Wanting to make another quip about 'old earth', Donna swallowed the comment and listened to the story of a world so addicted to new experience and escape that they lost touch with living and allowed themselves to die.

"I didn't give much thought to where the drugs came from," he admitted. "Should have paid more attention... but I didn't. Just ran away…"

"Doctor," she sighed, "I think you can chalk this one up to human weakness." Looking across to the neighbouring bed, she recognised the girl who had doped her… "How's she doing?"

Casting a stern glance in the girl's direction, the Doctor answered, "Not good. Her reaction to this particular virus hasn't been the best."

As he spoke, a shrouded figure approached the bed and checked Donnas readouts, lifting her chart and making some notes.

Donna assumed the figure was a nurse and smiled politely, until they undid their cowl to show their face; it hadn't been what Donna was expecting.

She blinked through the placating tone of the matron as she told Donna she was healing quickly… and then watched as the woman left.

"She's a cat…"

The Doctor looked around to the nurse, now seeing to the sickening girl beside them, "Really? I hadn't noticed."

"But she's a cat…" Donna stuttered as the Doctor frowned.

He stopped the nurse before she could move away, "Will she be alright."

The cat dropped her head, "She's in quite a bad way, I'm afraid."

"The patches," The Doctor nodded, "I have seen them in use before. They killed a world."

"And they are still here…" the nurse admitted, "just as addictive. Just as deadly… there have been more and more cases such as your friends."

"She was drugged," the Doctor growled.

"Yes," the nurse bowed slightly, twitching her whiskers, "of course."

Donna propped herself up on her elbows, "Oi. What did you mean, there have been more cases…"

The matron bowed her head and admitted, "At first it was just a fad… an addiction much like smoking or alcohol in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries… but then it shifted and became so much more." The cat moved closer, giving a brief glance about the ward, "Bliss is just the beginning… it's only one of the milder cases we encounter. More and more we are seeing much darker emotions being simulated… with disastrous effect."

"So that Bliss stuff was just the start?" Donna scowled, "Like hooking someone on a tab and then reeling them into the harder stuff?"

"An addict can pay for their graduation to dark emotions by bringing a new subject to the dealer." The nurse nodded, "And the darker emotions carry a greater risk… once you graduate from the milder forms there is no going back."

"I could have lost you," The Doctor admitted with dark eyes.

There was a moment when Donna saw each one of the man's nine hundred years etched on his skin and then it was gone as he thanked the cat and dismissed her before returning to the bed side.

He remained silent for a time as Donna absently rubbed the patch of skin where the bliss drug had been administered…

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" She asked quietly.

The look in his eye was her only response.

"Right – so… where do we start?"

()()()()()

There were many things that irritated the Doctor in his long life. One of them was only getting half a story.

So he had encountered the emotive tabs before, on New Earth… but he had been on such a high about saving all those people who had been caught in the destruction of their city he had failed to ask an important question…

What was behind the emotion tabs?

Drugs were not an uncommon thing in the universe. Every race had an ability to make them; for medical or recreational purposes. And, in every race, drugs were used as a way to control and enslave people.

And he hadn't thought to put more time into locating the source of these drugs. If he had traced them back to a distributor, Donna might not have been a victim at all.

A shudder ran through him at the memory that accompanied his thoughts and he turned to see his companion working away at the TARDIS console, pleased to see she was back to the inquisitive, stubborn, determined woman he had chosen to join him in his travels.

He couldn't bear to think of being without her.

"Well," Donna sighed, "that's all the data from the hospital and police reports entered into the TARDIS data-banks."

He couldn't help a jolt of surprise, "What? Already?"

Donna smiled, giving a self-satisfied wiggle of her head, "Super-temp."

"Donna, that's fantastic," he gushed, programming the TARDIS to crunch the numbers and postulate locations for drug factories in the city. "You are brilliant," he said again, still amazed at her ability, even after all this time.

"Outer-space admin is clearly my thing."

"We make quite a team, Donna Noble," he concluded, straightening to look at her beaming expression, "now… let's go get some answers."

The TARDIS whirled under his control and he and his companion did their best to hang on to something as she shot through space to land, with a clunk, in the first location she had determined.

They were at the first, possible, location and the Doctor found an unexpected burst of nerves catch him as Donna turned to make her way out of the ship.

"Donna," he squeaked, following her and taking her hand. "I don't want you out of my sight out there, ok? We don't know what we're going to find and it could be dangerous."

The wooden doors opened into a dark space, filled with the resounding thrum of base and searching red-lights of an exotic dance club. Before them, a female figure swirled around a long pole, watched by several on-lookers at her feet. A male figure twirled to his own audience in the background and beyond him lay a bar area.

The TARDIS appeared to be hidden in an alcove. One of many that existed around a sunken staging area for the numerous performers of certain and none-descript species and sex.

They were in a strip joint.

Donna laughed, "Yeah, real dangerous…" she looked at him, "he could put my eye out with that thing…"

There was no response that came to the top of the myriad thoughts filling the Doctors head and so he let his companion drag him to the bar.

"I don't know why the TARDIS would have brought us here," he finally said as Donna ordered drinks, "It makes no sense. I was looking for a factory…"

"It makes perfect sense to me," Donna stated, surprising him again. "Sex and drugs usually go hand-in-hand… and what would you need to make someone desire the darker emotions?"

"A catalyst…" his brain started whirring. He had been too focused on the production of a normal drug to think that something that dealt with emotions could be easily gleaned and distilled by telepathic bio-technology. Oh! He was so old and thick sometimes! "Donna, you genius…"

Even through the dark, he could see them… transfer nodes, gleaning the emotions off the clubs customers. They were imbedded in the walls and in the floor… draining away the envy, the desire, the lust in their hearts and minds… like a sponge.

The emotion could be replicated and a chemical high concocted from the results in the original download.

"Can I help you?" The bar man asked, looking them up and down.

"Just a drink for now," Donna answered quickly, "Thanks."

"Something special?"

"What you got?"

With a lopsided grin, the bar man bent and retrieved two bottles of glowing liquid, "On the house for a new couple."

Donna opened her mouth to correct the man's assumption when she found the Doctors hand on her arm.

"Thanks, but, we were looking to… er… spice things up a little more. If you know what I mean," and he gave a wink.

Donna tried to school the shock on her face as the bar man winked as if he understood the Doctor entirely.

"I'll see what I can do." The man said and wandered out to the back of the bar and out of site.

"What was that?" Donna asked, trying to keep any anger out of the question.

"I just thought if we played with his assumption then we might get what we want a little quicker," the Doctor reasoned. "You were the one that said sex and drugs go hand-in-hand."

Donna nodded, he had a point. "Just one thing…"

"What's that?"

"If we were a couple," Donna started, lowering her head to look up at him through her lashes, "you wouldn't need anything to spice it up."

But instead of the expected blustering reaction, all she received from the Doctor was a long and thoughtful intake of breath as his lips parted…

Her heart raced at the cool look in his eye and she found herself gazing at him; hanging on what he might say…

The bar tender returned and beckoned them to him with one hand, holding out a key with another, "I've been told you can have a private pod on the house." Then he winked, "We like couples."

_I bet you do, _Donna thought as she followed the bar man and Doctor into a red-velvet coloured room.

There wasn't a seating arrangement, just an opulently decorated bed with round table at the end which held their drinks. The Doctor thanked the bar man and they were left alone.

"What now?" Donna asked.

"I suppose we wait…"

She found herself nodding and looking around the room as her mouth dried and she moved toward the drink.

"I wouldn't do that," the Doctor rushed in a blur of movement to snatch at the bottles, "Could be spiked."

Donna pouted… she had looked forward to a wee tipple.

A flask appeared beneath her nose…

"What's that?" She asked, suspicious of how he had known what she was thinking…

"It's a cocktail from the tropical planet of K'Arumph in the Venon sector…"

Donna shrugged… _good enough for the Venon's_, she thought, taking the flask from her friend, "What does it taste like?"

The Doctors face crumpled slightly… "Fruity Baileys…"

Nice. Donna took a sip, tasting the creamy fruit liqueur and smiling.

"You like?" He asked.

"I was just thinking…" she said, considering the flask in her hand, "what if you've spiked me?"

He looked slightly affronted before noticing the teasing grin on her face and relaxing… The Doctor wiggled his eyebrows… "I may have. Do you trust me?"

Donna made a play at thinking about the question before taking another, longer, sip of the drink.

The smile she got in response was worth it as The Doctor beamed at her; of course she trusted him. And there was much more beyond...

Donna shook herself.

The Doctor, oblivious to her musings, happily took the flask from her hand and gave a long sip as well.

What passed between them then was hard to decipher... Donna looked to him, happy and content, The Doctors gaze seemed to melt and he sighed...

It could have meant a thousand things... but she chose to believe it was something deeper... something she found hard to admit... that, perhaps, he l-

"What's that?" the Doctor asked, looking about the small room.

"What?" Donna asked, glancing about the space and seeing nothing out of the ordinary...

But as the Doctor turned his gaze to her she noticed something. "You're going all fuzzy…" she said… and then passed out.


End file.
